Anicetus (Pontus)

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Anicetus was a leader of an unsuccessful anti-Roman uprising in Pontus in A.D. 69.

Formerly a freedman of Polemon II of Pontus, he commanded the royal fleet until Pontus was converted into a Roman province under Nero in A.D. 63. During the civil war following Nero’s death, Anicetus sided with Vitellius and led a general insurrection against Vespasian in Pontus and Colchis, A.D. 69. The rebels destroyed the Roman fleet (Classis Pontica) in a suddent attack on Trapezus and then turned to piracy using a type of boat known as camarae. The revolt was however put down by the Roman reinforcements under Virdius Geminus, a lieutenant of Vespasian. Overtaken at the mouth of the river Cohibus (now the Khobi, Western Georgia), Anicetus was surrendered to the Romans by the local tribesmen, and put to death.